Thursday, December 31, 2009

Our last Sirius | XM Blog Radio show of the decade airs today at noon Eastern (and again at midnight) on Sirius XMU. This week's episode features music from VEGA, Mountain Man, Pearl Harbor, Chromatics, Atlas Sound, Heart Shaped Rock, and more. You can listen online with a free trial here. Check this week's playlist + some mp3safter the jump...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

An abundance of jj news lately: the group has signed with Secretly Canadian, who've just announced the release of their next LP, jj nº 3, on March 9 in the U.S. in conjunction with Sincerely Yours (just in time for SXSW and their tour with the xx). The label is also giving away a promo mp3 of the group's Weezy rework (and one of my songs of the year), "Ecstasy."

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Sincerely Yours just posted up this clip for the "KJJ edit" of Avner's "Bed för Mig," which is essentially a cover by JJ, I think, but you never know with these people. The only info they've offered up is "the eye goes blind when the mind asks why." Watch it in high-res here:

******

related:

jj | no. 2

In related news, you can now get one of the year's best albums (JJ's No. 2) on white vinyl, complete with new bonus track "Pure Shores" (likely a cover of this) for 19€, which I'm guessing is a lot of American dollars. The group has also released an extremely limited 12" for From Africa to Málaga on Japanese label Every Conversation, featuring JJ's cover of "Baby" as well as new song "The Truth," that can be had here for ¥1,985 (also a lot of $).

Sweden's Taken By Trees just released a new single for one of our favorite songs of '09, "Anna." In addition to the gorgeous album version, the single also features an "Annacapella" which highlights Panda Bear's soaring vocal contribution (remixes, please), and this sparse, thoroughly hypnotic reverb-drowned version. Get the single here.

Monday, December 14, 2009

BEKO-DSL is giving away the new digital single from VA's irresistible lo-fi pop duo Eternal Summers, who released one of our favorite EPs of '09 back in January. The band says their debut 13 song LP is finished and ready to go as soon as they find a proper home, but in the meantime, enjoy these hazy, sentimental new jams from the group:

Cathartic, damaged "heavy pop" from Manchester's WU LYF, who've possibly elicited comparisons in the UK to HEALTH and Egyptian Hip Hop. Any more info is scarce at this point (their myspace page isn't helping), and this song may or may not be called "HEAVY POP":

On a decidedly less intense note, here's the sweet a-side from the Fresh & Only's new Woodsist single, which was previously only available on the group's extremely limited, long since sold outBomb Wounds cassette. But now you can get it on 7-inches with a "full color glue pocket sleeve" (pictured) here. Thanks to Ryan for the heads up.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

The latest entry in the Fader's 7" series features new, unreleased tracks from SALEM + Tanlines; take a listen to SALEM's gloomy, mildly depressing (but still kind of beautiful) contribution below, and hit up the Fader to hear Tanlines' side. And while you're there, grab the mp3s and enter to win a copy of the 7", which is limited to 500 copies.

"The mix is meant to narrate different episodes of one continuous dream. My dreams have a life-like quality to them, but are always skewed in really subtle ways. That is the way I think of most of these songs."

"Am I Gonna Make It" is the first jam to surface from the long-awaited (couple weeks) Dam-Funk + Nite Jewel collab, NITE-FUNK, courtesy of XLR8R. This sounds basically exactly how we thought/hoped this would sound: like the '80s (video here).

Gigi is the collaborative project of Vancouver's Nick Krgovich (of No Kids/ P:ANO) and producer Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Cave Singers, Destroyer). The project was born after Stewart acquired "two huge vintage plate reverbs" with the intent of creating a tribute of sorts to the legendary Back To Mono boxset. The group's debut LP Maintentant, out on Tomlab in early '10, largely succeeds in its goal of "capturing the spirit of...classic Phil Spector/Brill Building pop hits" from the '60s, thanks in part to a wealth of great guest appearances from the likes of Mirah, Owen Pallett, Rose Melberg, and others, including Karl Blau on album standout "The Old Graveyard":

Monday, December 07, 2009

Liars are giving away a free download of "Scissor," the alternately eerie and blistering opening track from their upcoming Sisterworld LP. Pretty intense jam, even for these dudes. Thanks to We All Want Someone to Shout For for the tip.

New Pantha Du Prince, taken from his upcoming Rough Trade debut, Black Noise. This one features Tyler Pope of !!! on bass. By the way, the Panda Bear song on this record is an early contender for jam of 2010.